Photopatternable optical silicone materials have been developed that can be fabricated into flexible polymer waveguides using conventional film processing and photolithography techniques. Waveguides designed for multimode applications have demonstrated loss of 0.05 dB/cm at 850 nm. These waveguides have proven stable in 85% relative humidity and 85 C storage conditions for greater than 2000 ho...

This work bridges the gap between the remote interrogation of multiple optical sensors and the advantages of using inherently biocompatible low-cost polymer optical fiber (POF)-based photonic sensing. A novel hybrid sensor network combining both silica fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) and polymer FBGs (POFBG) is analyzed. The topology is compatible with WDM networks so multiple remote sensors can be ...

The behavior of tapered graded-index polymer optical fibers is analyzed computationally for different refractive indices of the surrounding medium. This serves to clarify the main parameters affecting their possible performance as refractive-index sensors and extends an existing study of similar structures in glass fibers. The ray-tracing method is employed, its specific implementation is expla...

This paper describes researches concerning the use of Wavelength-Division Multiplexing (WDM) techniques over Polymer Optical Fibres (POFs) links for Residential Networks applications. It is reported the development of a 2-channel WDM Multiplexer/Demultiplexer (MUX/DEMUX) device based on a commercially available dichroic beam-splitter operating in the visible spectra. It describes the use of the...

Electrospinning in controlled nitrogen atmosphere is developed for the realization of active polymer nanofibers. Fibers electrospun under controlled atmospheric conditions are found to be smoother and more uniform than samples realized by conventional electrospinning processes performed in air. In addition, they exhibit peculiar composition, incorporating a greatly reduced oxygen content during...

The optical polishing of hydrophilic polymer materials is a complex process that requires a comprehensive setting of various operating parameters. Based on a series of experimental investigations and dimensional analysis, this paper presents a simple empirical equation to evaluate material removal in the polishing of optical spherical surfaces of hydrophilic polymer materials. It is shown that ...

We describe graded-index polymer optical fibers with high bandwidth (5.12 GHz for 100-m transmission) and low loss in the near-infrared region (56 and 115 dB/km at wavelengths of 688 and 773 nm, respectively) that we successfully obtained with a new interfacial-gel polymerization technique using an all-deuterated methyl methacrylate monomer and a partially fluorinated acrylate monomer. The nece...